Is there are so many weird designs in vintage frames and components that are even more interesting than modern stuff. I want to see what stuff is out there.

I will start.
These freewheels.





Nylfor nylon headsets.




Huffy made a department store version of their Olympic bikes, complete with a plastic disk wheel.





This.





This crankset.

Pooey stinko!!!

If anyone needs it spelled out, those freewheels were made and posted as an April Fool's joke years ago.

1930-ish - First gen Vittoria Margherita. Lever is for chain tension only. Push forward to loosen chain. While backpedaling, use hand/stick/foot to move chain side-to-side to change gears. Push lever forward to retention chain.

_MG_9137 by iabisdb, on Flickr




1935-ish - Second gen Vittoria Margherita. Lever is for chain tension only. Push forward to loosen chain. While backpedaling, twist triangle on top of the lever to move flappers to move chain side-to-side to change gears. Push lever forward to retention chain.

Frejus035 by iabisdb, on Flickr




1930-ish - Unknown brand, used by Learco Guerra. Use knob and lift up on seat tube to loosen chain tension by having hub assembly pivot down. While backpedaling, use hand/stick/foot to move chain side-to-side to change gears. Use knob and push down on seat tube to tighten chain tension by having hub assembly pivot up.








1934 - Campagnolo cambio corsa - Twist top lever to loosen quick release. While backpedaling, twist lower lever to move chain side-to-side to change gears. Twist top lever to tighten quick release.

Pecorari 042 by iabisdb, on Flickr




1947 - OMAC cambio sport - Jockey wheel is on a spring-loaded linear-moving rod to keep chain tension. While pedaling forward, twist lever to move chain side-to-side to change gears. After much effort. I never got it to shift gears without getting off the bike to move the chain manually.

Cambio Sport by iabisdb, on Flickr

1948 Frejus 146 by iabisdb, on Flickr

an article from the October 1975 issue of Bicycling magazine....






Steve in Peoria

do solar powered bike computers count?

from the March 1985 issue of Bicycling magazine...



or maybe this marvel of engineering optimism...

from the March 1982 issue of Bicycling...



Steve in Peoria

I do remember seeing a picture of this bike in better condition on old10speedgallery a while back.

I did find this on Sheldon Brown's website though.



There was also a square taper version as well.

I have/had a flyer from Bullseye circa 1990's that still listed their severely elliptical chainring, along with their other interesting products.



This was about the time that I had bought one of their roller bearing bottom brackets. Very rugged, but used an oil bath instead of the typical grease. There was always a bit of oil getting past the axle seals, so oil drips were inevitable. For me, this was the kiss of death, and I installed a regular cup and cone bottom bracket again.

Steve in Peoria

Osgear did both actions at once with one lever. It was also indexed.






Here is one that someone put newer components on.

I don't know about solar power, but that headband's ability to keep sweat out of the eyes in that position is truly amazing.

How many teeth would you like on your single speed freewheel cog?

Yes.

I need a number.

96...

There's no such th

...in six identical cogs.

Some of you know about the Cinelli Bivalent hub system. It was a scheme to keep the freewheel mounted to the frame, which then allowed the front and rear wheels to use the same hub. This supposedly had some benefit in terms of race wheel support or something. Or maybe less prone to bent axles? I'm really not sure.

A few photos from the Classic Rendezvous gatherings.....
Most of these are of Harvey Sachs's Cinelli.









and an article by Jim Langley on the Cinelli Speciale Corsa...



Steve in Peoria

combine with this.

It also was a knock-off of a system made by Palladini. Ad from 1947. I believe another Italian firm and a French company or two had something similar.

1947 Ciclismo Italiano 32 by iabisdb, on Flickr

Here is another example.

Not my drawing.

An early drivetrain concept for the safety bike was the shaft drive. Not a weird idea, really, but just not practical for bikes. Most used bevel gears at the end of the drive shaft. One novel technology was the Victor Spinroller. Instead of bevel gear teeth sliding past each other, the friction was reduced by using rollers for gear teeth. Not sure how practical this was, considering the many small rotating parts. It couldn't have been too bad, because CeramicSpeed adapted the idea for use in a multi-speed shaft drive bike a year or two ago.
https://www.ceramicspeed.com/en/cycl...nounces-driven




Steve in Peoria

Timex Velo-Trak wristwatch/cycle computer. I had one of these. First seen at the last (I think) Atlantic City Interbike show, it struck me as a terrific idea. Take that as proof of my status as a leading reverse indicator. I was later able to buy one for $20 at K-Mart when they were dumped. I think I used it once before it broke.

that's interesting... is the axle really as asymmetric as it appears in the photo? It looks like the left fork blade sits much further from the bike's centerline than the right fork blade. That suggests that the fork is only suitable for the Bivalent hubs, which really limits any future modifications.

Steve in Peoria

and a handful of curiosities that Jim Langley wrote about a while back...













Steve in Peoria

Yep, Rene Herse used a hub called RAS in the 1946 Technical Trials, since points were awarded for not needing to touch the chain when changing a flat. I'm not sure if they developed it, or just used it.

The Interdrive crank is one of my favorites.

All these vintage shennanigans sort of don't make SRAMs electronic derailleurless double crankset with derailleur shifting seem sane, logical.

Sram crankset patent.


That being said the linked article contains this link about the Bellevue Washington based Browning Automatic Transmission. In looking adocumentation, it appears to be what the Rodriguez Disruptor is based on. R&E Cycles is Seattle based. The distance between these 2 motropolis' is about 10 miles...They've gotta be connected, somehow.

I guess it goes to show that some ideas are before their time.